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[h=2]IMSA: Corvette Racing takes GT Le Mans title[/h] Saturday, 01 October 2016


Marshall Pruett / Image by LAT

Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner are the new IMSA GT Le Mans champions. The No. 4 Corvette Racing drivers used a mix of intensity and restraint during the 10-hour Petit Le Mans season finale at Road America to earn their second title since 2012, and helped Chevrolet to win its 11th Manufacturers' title since the program was formed in 1999.


“It feels really good,” Milner said. “Just happy with the whole day, to finish the season off strong. Unfortunately for the No. 67 [Ford] guys, it would have been fun to race them [for the championship] until the end, but I’m just so proud to be part of the Corvette Racing team. The best success of my career, by far, is with them and it gets better and better every year.”


The Drivers' championship is the second for America's Milner and the fifth for England's Gavin. With help from Marcel Fassler, who joined the duo for the endurance events, the No. 4 Corvette opened the year with wins at IMSA's most hallowed events, the Rolex 24 At Daytona and the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, added two more wins at Lime Rock and Road America, and stretched their points lead with a pair of second-place finishes at Long Beach and Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.
The No. 4 team fought the Ford Chip Ganassi Racing team for most of the summer as the No. 67, driven by former Corvette drivers Ryan Briscoe and Richard Westbrook, went on a three-race winning streak from Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca to CTMP. Mechanical issues at the penultimate round torpedoed the No. 67's realistic chances of landing the championship, and with more problems leaving the car 19 laps behind tonight, the pace and proven reliability of the C7.R was too much for the GTLM field to overcome.
Gavin credit his team – and the program as a whole – for running the table in 2016.
"Our season has been fantastic, it started off with an amazing victory with our teammates, photo finish, certainly one of the closest in Daytona history," he said. "The other wins we won over the season were brilliant. We got our hundredth win at Lime Rock. I’ve been proud to be a part of Corvette Racing. It’s been a team effort all season, our team has kept us in it with fast stops, great strategy and great changes to the car. Never a dull move, and that’s what wins you championships. I think we won every championship we possibly could this year – team, drivers, manufacturers, NAEC. We’re pretty pleased. It doesn’t get much better than that."